Liver Transplantation - Current Aspects of Allocation, Indication and Donor Pool Expansion

Liver transplantation is nowadays an established treatment option for end-stage liver disease and the associated complications. In this article, we summarise the actual aspects of allocation, indication for transplantation as well as approaches for donor pool expansion in the field of liver transplantation in Germany. Beside the maintenance of long-term survival and quality of life, the actual donor organ shortage is the most important issue worldwide. While trying to control this shortage, there is a lot of discussion about the transplantation for malignant liver disease. In our opinion, the focus in this topic should be the utilisation and expansion of the donor pool. There are many logistic and medical aspects which could be optimised. Furthermore, there are open questions in public and political discussions (up to the revision of the transplantation law) which should be improved for the purpose of the waiting list patients.